The art market movement is gaining momentum around the world.
In Asia in particular, it is said that the art momentum is growing in 2023.
We will introduce you to Asian collectors based in Hong Kong, where major auction houses such as Sotheby's and Critie's have opened their Asian headquarters, and where some of Asia's leading art facilities such as "M+" have opened.

Jack Ma, Founder of Alibaba

Chinese businessman Jack Ma's career is truly that of a 21st century darling.
He is the founder of Alibaba, the largest e-commerce site in China with an initial public offering of more than $25 billion.
He was the first mainland Chinese entrepreneur to appear on the cover of Forbes, and the magazine named him the 30th most powerful person in the world in 2014.
He is also an art collector and even a painter himself.
In the fall of 2015, Ma's first publicly exhibited work, "Paradise," a portrait of the Earth painted in oil on round canvas with the help of Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi, sold at a Sotheby's auction for a whopping $5.4 million.
The winning bidder was Chinese businessman Qian Fen Lei. Ma wrote in the auction catalog, "This is the first time I have painted. It is an unprecedented start to my career as an artist.

RM," the leader of BTS

RM (real name Kim Na-jung), who is the leader of BTS, arguably the most popular male Kpop group in the world today, actually began his career as an art collector several years ago.
BTS's YouTube channel has over 70 million subscribers, and RM's personal Instagram has 37 million followers.

How RM got into art

Growing up near Seoul, he says his parents "took me to museums, but I don't remember enjoying them that much."
But during a concert tour in 2018, RM was sitting in his hotel room, trying to figure out what to do during a break, when he decided to venture to the Art Institute of Chicago.
It was there that he saw a painting by Seurat and Monet that captured his heart.
It was like I was suffering from Stendhal Syndrome," he says.
Stendhal's syndrome is a condition in which art viewers experience physical symptoms such as lightheadedness and increased heart rate. Seeing the work in person, which he had only seen in reproductions, must have been quite a shock.

Artists in RM's collection

While he also collects large three-dimensional works by KAWS, he consciously buys many works by Korean artists. This includes works by some of the leading Korean artists of the 20th century, such as Park Su-geun, Chang Woo-jin, and Nam June Paik. He also says that he feels empathy especially for the works of the generation that lived through the Korean War, the military dictatorship, and the period of economic instability, and concentrates on them in his collection.

On the left is a work by Yoon Hyun-kwon. On the right is a work by Kim Jung-hee, a calligrapher from the Yi Dynasty.

Liu Yik-jen and Wang Bara, a well-known former cab driver

Liu Yik-jen is a collector who, despite his background as a former cab driver, has amassed enormous wealth in a single generation and is also famous for his flamboyant performances at art auctions and other events.

Collecting various works of art for the Dragon Museum of Fine Arts

When Liu and Wang began participating in auctions in the early 1990s, the Chinese art market was just emerging.
The two began collecting art as a hobby, and became addicted to it.
To many people, Liu may be a cab driver-turned-millionaire "upstart," but he caused a bit of a stir when he sold a small Ming Dynasty porcelain "chicken cup" for $36.3 million at a Sotheby's auction and photos of him actually using it spread online.

Wang is the driving force behind and in charge of the Long Museum of Art in Shanghai, which the couple has opened for more than 20 years and which houses a vast collection of primarily classical and contemporary Chinese art, most of which is on display there.
Their goal, they say, is to make the Long Museum a world-class museum on par with the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Even the collection of Western paintings.

Previously, the museum had a collection of ancient Chinese art and works by contemporary artists, but in 2015 it purchased a nude by Amedeo Modigliani for a reported $170.4 million (about $21 billion, including fees).
With a collection of not only Chinese art, but also art from around the world, it really could build a collection to rival MoMA and the Guggenheim Museum.

Famous Taiwanese collector "Pierre Cheng"

Pierre Cheng, one of Taiwan's richest men, made his fortune with the electronics giant Yageo Corporation, which he founded in 1977. According to a 2014 profile in Sotheby's Magazine, he reportedly spent a year and a half saving up for his first purchase, a wooden sculpture by Hong Kong-based artist Chan Yee (priced at NT$25,000), the previous year, 1976, when he was still a student.
The pieces he has purchased over the years range from works by Thomas Stroot and Gerhard Richter to Cai Guo-Qiang. He is also said to own seven works by Picasso, two by Francis Bacon, and ten by Gerhard Richter, according to the Art Newspaper.

Cheng talks about the need for art.

In 2019, Chen spoke to the media about his vision for an art facility to showcase the collections owned by his foundation. He has also expressed interest in programs to support artists.
However, these have yet to come to fruition, and he may still find ways to enjoy the collection on his own.
My business changes very quickly," he said. New technologies are constantly coming onto the market, so every day is a battle. I need art and music to balance my life.
As for the need for art, Cheng says, "I need art and music to keep my life in balance.

What is Chen's favorite piece of art?

When asked to choose his favorite work in the collection, Chen told ARTnews that his top two favorites are Cy Twombly's "Untitled (Rome)" (1971) and Francis Bacon's "Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Floyd" (1965). He said.
In May 2015, at Christie's in New York City, Cheng plunked down $26 million for Peter Doig's painting "Swamped" (1990), setting a new auction record for the artist.

Peter Doig, "Swamped," 1990.

Aggressive in Wine Investments

In addition to art, Cheng has also amassed an important wine collection over the past 30 years; in 2021, Sotheby's sold this wine collection in a dedicated auction in Hong Kong, netting Cheng $11.4 million.
This was the second largest single owner wine sale ever held in Asia.



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